I have the fondest memories of my yiayia Anneta, whose kitchen I grew up in, whipping up a batch of traditional Greek loukoumades literally out of magical thin air! How they would suddenly appear when we had unexpected guests, I will never know! But they were always wonderful and always perfect!
Loukoumades are fried balls of yeast risen dough. Greeks have been making them as far as ancient times, and they were even rewarded to the winners of the Olympic Games as “honey tokens”.
Yiayia Anneta was the loukoumades master!
Now to make these keto, I used my choux recipe.
https://onxeniastreet.com/2020/08/30/choux-and-its-keto-too/
In my experiment I tried them out both baked and fried. The texture is much softer if the dough is fried, and they deflate. I also was not able to make them round. So I opted for baked instead. I squeezed out smaller round pieces using the pastry bag and baked them at high heat, at 425 F for 15-20 minutes, then lowered the heat to 350 F for the same amount of time. This creates a round and puffed up shape that holds well. Traditional loukoumades hold their spherical shape due to the characteristics of wheat, gluten and yeast.
This choux recipe uses a blend of almond and coconut flours with a little psyllium powder and xanthan gum. The dough is initially cooked stovetop with water and butter. When it is cooled, then it is whipped with eggs and vanilla extract.
I truly feel that the choux dough is very versatile. I have even made bigger shapes to use as a rolls for small sandwhiches.
For the full recipe and directions, follow the link below:
https://onxeniastreet.com/2020/08/30/choux-and-its-keto-too/
Loukoumades are traditionally dressed with walnuts and a honey syrup. If you are paleo then honey is perfectly fine. However if you are strictly following low carb and keto, or are perhaps a diabetic, look for a sugarfree syrup. I used one from Choczero. http://www.choczero.com.
However I will share how to make a honey syrup for this and other Greek recipes to have on hand!
Greek Honey Syrup
Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
peel of an orange or lemon (whichever you have is fine)
4 cloves
Topping:
Walnuts, Almonds, (coarsely chopped and lightly toasted)
toasted sesame seeds.
powdered cinnamon to taste.
drizzle the honey syrup to taste.
Directions:
Bring this to a simmer, until the honey and water become one, and you begin to smell the aromatics. Let it cool. You will drizzle this on your loukoumades when they are ready to be eaten!
The topping is very simple. The traditional one you find everywhere is cinnamon and walnuts with the honey syrup. My yiayia would use almonds, walnuts and toastes sesame seeds with cinnamon.
Perfection!
Kali Oreksi!
on xenia street 